At the doctor’s office, I was told to undress and get into a gown by the nurse. As I started to untie my...
Essays
Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday Are a Perfect Couple
Valentine’s Day is on Ash Wednesday this year. At first thought, they seem like an unlikely...
What if New Year’s Resolutions Are a Misinterpreted Yearning to Participate in the Penitential Season Known as Lent?
I am happy to say that my area has had a milder than average winter. Most of the highs have been near 40...
A Day of Inconvenience to Keep Us From Taking Convenience for Granted
A water main broke on our block one pretty Sunday afternoon. I remember it was a lovely day because I was enjoying a walk and, just before the last turn onto my street, I saw the water gushing out of the curb and pouring down the street. ‘That...
A Gargoyle Gecko Gothic Cathedral and the Discovery of a Dawn of a New Industrial Revolution
After our Gargoyle Gecko, Mabel, joined the family, it became a top priority to make her tank as Gothic as possible. Afterall, you can’t have a breed of gecko named for the...
The Homeschool Discernment: With and Without the Rainbows and Sunshine
A friend was trying to discern whether or not to start homeschooling her children and she asked for my thoughts on my experiences as a...
Memento Mori
“She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life. “ – the Misfit from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor In Flanner O’Connor’s...
Jesus the Master Electrician
Dr. Tim Gray of the Augustine Institute referred to the Ascension of Our Lord as “completing the circuit.” I thought it an excellent metaphor and it set me to thinking it through...
A Cold, Dead Heart and a Cold-Blooded Icon
I am not an emotional person. In fact, I think I am best described as having a cold, dead heart. A heart of stone would also be apt. I have always been this way. I can’t remember a time when it was not difficult for me to...
Lenten Sacrifices for Those Who Like a Challenge
Lent is coming. It’s a time of prayer, almsgiving and—what it’s probably most known for—fasting. The week preceding Ash Wednesday, a question pops into the heads of...
Trying to Turn and Become Like Children
Part 1: Forgiveness I stopped making dinner and followed the sounds of screaming into the living room where I came upon yet another knock-down drag-out fight between my two youngest who had, apparently, engaged prison rules. There was some question...
What if Overthinking is Actually a Misinterpreted Yearning for Contemplation?
Life is exhausting for overthinkers. Every word we speak, every sentence we write, every action we take, every decision we make has to go through a three-part process....